Year One/Gbodyparts.com Olds SS II 17" wheels

[dgmeadows]

Has anyone out there actually purchased and received the Year One Olds SS II 17" wheels in the 9" width with 4.5" backspacing from GBodyparts.com ?

I ask this question because Year One does not show a 4.5" backspacing 9" wide option on their website. I would prefer the 4.5" backspacing 9" wide for my rear tires to avoid using spacers, but trying to figure out if they are actually available, or if it is a mistake on the GBodyparts.com website.

Thanks for any info.

 

[ck80]

If you're willing to risk the customer service and unresponsive wait times, gbody used to buy wheels and send them out to have them widened, then mark them up for profit.

My guess is what you are seeing is them selling that 'service',, but, they don't keep much on hand for parts like that and usually wait for an order to buy one, then ship it to the 3rdd party, wait for them to do the alteration, and finally have it drop shipped to you.

 

[dgmeadows]

I had actually already ordered these wheels from Gbodyparts.com. I have seen some negative customer service comments, but I had e-mailed them with questions before ordering and gotten timely responses, so I gave them a chance that maybe their customer service is improving. I ordered the staggered set, 8" for front and 9" for rear because they offered the 4.5" backspacing on both, which I could not find elsewhere. After I ordered them back in mid-January, the other smaller items I ordered came quickly, but I had no further information come on the wheels. No ETA, nothing. I let it ride 2-3 weeks, then inquired by e-mail. I did not get a response from the regular customer service e-mail, so after a few days I e-mailed a specific person directly and got a response. It took another week for them to apparently try to sort things out with Year One. I called Year One myself to inquire whether the 4.5" backspace 9" wide unit was real or not. The person at Year One just said they did not currently sell that, but it was possible it was previously available, or a special specification for Gbodyparts.com, but he could not verify that. This afternoon I got an e-mail from Gbodyparts.com, saying that the staggered set including 9" rears with 4.5" backspacing was previously offered from Year One, and they (Gbodyparts.com) had sold many sets of them, but they could not confirm with Year One whether they were currently available, so they (Gbodyparts.com) will refund my money. Bummer, but at least I got the answer I need. Now I just have to decide whether to just go with 8" with 4.5" backspace front and rear, or 9" with 5 1/8" backspace on the rear and use spacers. Thoughts and suggestions on that are welcome.

At this point, I guess I'd have to give Gbodyparts a "C" on customer service. I don't like that I had no info at all for 3 weeks and I had to make multiple inquiries, but once the problem was clearly identified, they did get to the bottom of it and offer the refund. The other smaller items came quickly and are as described, so no complaints there.

 

[scoti]

I had actually already ordered these wheels from Gbodyparts.com. I have seen some negative customer service comments, but I had e-mailed them with questions before ordering and gotten timely responses, so I gave them a chance that maybe their customer service is improving. I ordered the staggered set, 8" for front and 9" for rear because they offered the 4.5" backspacing on both, which I could not find elsewhere. After I ordered them back in mid-January, the other smaller items I ordered came quickly, but I had no further information come on the wheels. No ETA, nothing. I let it ride 2-3 weeks, then inquired by e-mail. I did not get a response from the regular customer service e-mail, so after a few days I e-mailed a specific person directly and got a response. It took another week for them to apparently try to sort things out with Year One. I called Year One myself to inquire whether the 4.5" backspace 9" wide unit was real or not. The person at Year One just said they did not currently sell that, but it was possible it was previously available, or a special specification for Gbodyparts.com, but he could not verify that. This afternoon I got an e-mail from Gbodyparts.com, saying that the staggered set including 9" rears with 4.5" backspacing was previously offered from Year One, and they (Gbodyparts.com) had sold many sets of them, but they could not confirm with Year One whether they were currently available, so they (Gbodyparts.com) will refund my money. Bummer, but at least I got the answer I need. Now I just have to decide whether to just go with 8" with 4.5" backspace front and rear, or 9" with 5 1/8" backspace on the rear and use spacers. Thoughts and suggestions on that are welcome.

At this point, I guess I'd have to give Gbodyparts a "C" on customer service. I don't like that I had no info at all for 3 weeks and I had to make multiple inquiries, but once the problem was clearly identified, they did get to the bottom of it and offer the refund. The other smaller items came quickly and are as described, so no complaints there.

What is the reason you don't want to run their standard 9" wheel back-space?

 

[dgmeadows]

What is the reason you don't want to run their standard 9" wheel back-space?

Based on numerous posts I have seen here and elsewhere, 5 1/8" backspace is too much and won't work unless you use spacers.

 

[scoti]

Based on numerous posts I have seen here and elsewhere, 5 1/8" backspace is too much and won't work unless you use spacers.

I had a 9" wheel w/5.25"bs on the rear of my Malibu for testing clearances. It fit w/o issue. I could see if you tried to squeeze a 275mm tire on it where it might be close. But your stated 5.125"bs isn't as much so that's better & it might come down to tire sizing. Worst case a .125 - .250 spacer. Planning on rear discs? That swap adds ~.250".

I would see if the 'off the shelf' size might work. Buy a wheel & carefully check it out. That's how I did mine (went through Summit). There's likely a vendor out there that has a decent return policy on un-used merchandise.

 

[403Olds]

Not to high jack your thread, but I've tried to contact Year One to see if they would sell a powder coat black rim, instead of the grey, no response. Also have tried to figure out the difference on the Gbody specific rims, but no response either. Doesn't make me confident in dropping that kind of money on a set of rims, without a little communication.

 

[dgmeadows]

Not to high jack your thread, but I've tried to contact Year One to see if they would sell a powder coat black rim, instead of the grey, no response. Also have tried to figure out the difference on the Gbody specific rims, but no response either. Doesn't make me confident in dropping that kind of money on a set of rims, without a little communication.

I actually talked to them about the GBody specific rims. They cost more because they include spacers with them. They also offer them with either 7/16" lug nuts for the 78-81 models or the metric lugs for the later models. I'm not sure why they think the spacers are needed for 4.5" backspacing and 8" rims, as many posts I've seen here indicate that those specs will fit without spacers. Perhaps it is just to push the rims out a bit.

By the way, I ordered the staggered set, 8" & 9" from Year One on Friday and received them today. But I am in GA where Year One is also.

 

[403Olds]

I actually talked to them about the GBody specific rims. They cost more because they include spacers with them. They also offer them with either 7/16" lug nuts for the 78-81 models or the metric lugs for the later models. I'm not sure why they think the spacers are needed for 4.5" backspacing and 8" rims, as many posts I've seen here indicate that those specs will fit without spacers. Perhaps it is just to push the rims out a bit.

By the way, I ordered the staggered set, 8" & 9" from Year One on Friday and received them today. But I am in GA where Year One is also.

Thanks for the information. I didn't realize they came with spacers, 4.5" is what I'm running now, so the spacers must not be too thick. Post some pictures up when you get them mounted, there's not too many that I've seen, but I like the Olds rally look!

 

[Hurstman1983]

I had actually already ordered these wheels from Gbodyparts.com. I have seen some negative customer service comments, but I had e-mailed them with questions before ordering and gotten timely responses, so I gave them a chance that maybe their customer service is improving. I ordered the staggered set, 8" for front and 9" for rear because they offered the 4.5" backspacing on both, which I could not find elsewhere. After I ordered them back in mid-January, the other smaller items I ordered came quickly, but I had no further information come on the wheels. No ETA, nothing. I let it ride 2-3 weeks, then inquired by e-mail. I did not get a response from the regular customer service e-mail, so after a few days I e-mailed a specific person directly and got a response. It took another week for them to apparently try to sort things out with Year One. I called Year One myself to inquire whether the 4.5" backspace 9" wide unit was real or not. The person at Year One just said they did not currently sell that, but it was possible it was previously available, or a special specification for Gbodyparts.com, but he could not verify that. This afternoon I got an e-mail from Gbodyparts.com, saying that the staggered set including 9" rears with 4.5" backspacing was previously offered from Year One, and they (Gbodyparts.com) had sold many sets of them, but they could not confirm with Year One whether they were currently available, so they (Gbodyparts.com) will refund my money. Bummer, but at least I got the answer I need. Now I just have to decide whether to just go with 8" with 4.5" backspace front and rear, or 9" with 5 1/8" backspace on the rear and use spacers. Thoughts and suggestions on that are welcome.

At this point, I guess I'd have to give Gbodyparts a "C" on customer service. I don't like that I had no info at all for 3 weeks and I had to make multiple inquiries, but once the problem was clearly identified, they did get to the bottom of it and offer the refund. The other smaller items came quickly and are as described, so no complaints there.

Just for reference. I ordered the same wheel set from G body autoparts June 2021. I had the same lack of communication right up until January of 2022 about 5 weeks before my rims actually arrived.
They are still in the boxes for a break in the crappy New York weather to break them out of storage.